Downtown a hothouse for flourishing flower market
James Hatano looks across the floor of the sprawling Southern California Flower Market and acknowledges that he is one of the last links to a bygone age of flower selling in Los Angeles.
Hatano, 81, grows poppies, sunflowers, baby's breath and delphiniums on a small rented farm in Rancho Palos Verdes and sells them from a stall at the market. Recalling fondly how Japanese farmers founded the market in 1913, he can't miss the stunning transformation around him.
"There are very few growers here anymore," said Hatano, who has worked at the market for 52 years. "It's all buy-and-sell people now."
Today, the buy-and-sell crowd will be operating at top speed: Thursday is Valentine's Day, the busiest day on the floral calendar. The typical florist does as much as 10 times the volume of an average day.
Red, of course, is the overwhelming color this week here in an industrial neighborhood at the southeast edge of downtown Los Angeles. But green is what counts. Americans will spend a record $9 billion on fresh flowers this year, more than ever before, according to the Society of American Florists.
For much of the last 100 years, the local flower scene was dominated by two large markets on Wall Street. But the industry is pushing out beyond its historical confines and now spans six blocks. There are also rows of storefronts where shoppers can pick out flower bouquets in the shapes of poodles, hearts and horseshoes. Florists wanting to protect their designs from copycats put up signs warning visitors not to photograph the display. Customers can purchase carnations by the dozen or by the gross. They can pick up 50 roses for $24.
There's even an Orchid Row on San Julian Street.
And the district is no longer just for the industry. The two big markets charge retail consumers $2 for the right to shop at wholesale prices. Other places don't levy the fee.
When Cathy Jacobs needed dozens of flowers last week to decorate a Victorian ball, the history buff headed to the Southern California Flower Market on Wall Street, where she spent $120 on carnations, delphiniums and plumbagos.
Saving hundreds of dollars on the price of the flowers was well worth the drive from South Pasadena and the $2 admission charge to buy flowers at the market, Jacobs said.
"I come here a lot. You just walk around and you are surrounded by beauty," Jacobs said, as she recently walked through rows of tulips and roses at the market.
